“Declan’s right. Kurt’s just being a weenie. Too snoopy, and he has a short memory for how powerful witches can be, especially Declan.” She reached down and took the other kid’s hand in hers. “We’re gonna grab an early dinner. See you around, Declan.”

“Bye, Clary,” the witch said, watching them leave with a bemused look. When they were gone, he checked over his door wards to make sure they were untouched. As he finished, his Bluetooth unit spoke in his ear.

“Father, Chris’s group is arriving in the next five minutes.”

“Thank you, Omega,” he said. The door to his room suddenly opened, revealing Nika standing there.

“Drama done?” she asked, although he knew she knew the answer long before opening the door.

“Yeah. Sorry about that. Some of the kids here are kinda busybodies.”

“Actually not as much as you think. It’s just that you occupy a particular place here and almost anything you do is interesting to the rest. Plus Stacia is the global face of weres. He’s expecting you to do something stupid and mess up your relationship.”

“Well, the odds of me doing something stupid are admittedly high, but I have no interest in messing up.”

She raised one eyebrow and smirked. “Yeah, I know that you know it as soon as I think it, but I still like to say it,” he said. “Chris and the team, or at least part of them, should be here any minute.”

“Tanya, Galina, and Lydia to Europe, huh?”

“Yeah. Some issue with Elders,” he said.

“Hmm, I’ll text Lydia while I get ready. Just give me a few minutes,” she said.

“I’ll go meet them in the parking lot.”

“Right, see you down there in a few.”

Declan turned and headed back downstairs, arriving at the main door, which was already crowding up with people. Gina and Toni Velasquez were there, along with a few of the staff members. Mr. Jenks, the defense teacher, was conspicuously absent, which surprised Declan not at all.

Beyond that, a group of kids were hanging around, intensely curious about the possibility of seeing the co-founder of the school.

Out in the parking lot, three big black SUVs pulled in and swung around till they came to stop right in front of the school. Doors opened and dark-suited men and women stepped out, scanning the area. Then the rear door of the middle car opened and a giant wolf flowed out, followed by Chris.

Declan pushed past the kids in the entry and held the door for Toni and her mother, then followed them out to greet the caravan. Awasos snuffled Toni and her mother, gave Declan a sniff, then took up a guard post spot on the sidewalk.

“Hey, how was the ride?” Declan asked Chris as the God Hammer turned and handed Toni one of the twins, Cora.